Reviews

Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda

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sharktownwoman's review

dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This has to be the grimmest book I've ever read. It was a slog, and an unpleasant one. Yeah, the language was pretty. But oh my god the violence and destruction was gruesome. I wish I had an English teacher to draw out some of the metaphors for me.

ohwretchedme's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ayla81's review

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

meerkatblogging's review

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dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

austre_yoon's review

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dark informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

thestoryofaz's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

Quite unlike anything I have ever read before. To enjoy this, one must refrain from any attempt to "connect the dots". It is a meandering, bewildering, mystical, and utterly haunting portrait of repressive societies, a clever and keen-eyed allegory for life under the Franco regime. Without names, setting, time, or place, it is a work that transcends time and all notions of language and expression, and actually timeless.

annietaber's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I don’t think I liked this book… I was disturbed and upset and I didn’t know for what reason all the horror was taking place. Intro said allegory for Franco, but even that was hard to grasp other than things being horrible. I don’t object to graphic or shocking content in and of itself, but it has to DO something, and for me, this didn’t. I will say that the writing style was super unique, incising, moving between documenting the present and reflecting seamlessly, so you weren’t even aware how you were moving through time.

Content Warnings